By Minghui reporter Zheng Haishan
On February 15, 2007, the NTDTV Global Chinese New Year Spectacular held two
shows at Radio City in New York. The severe weather didn't stop the enthusiastic
audience. As Ms. Zhou Mei, the MC of the Spectacular, said: “The performances
at the Spectacular warm up everybody.” Many people in the audience were touched
by the show and gave it very high marks.
Dance Performance, “Creation” |
Mr. Chen Rutang, the conductor of the Tian Yin Orchestra |
The audience |
The audience |
The audience |
Dr. Huang Jinli, the chief of the SAT Center in the Department of |
Claire Newton (left) said that from the songs she felt that “everyone |
Cultivators demonstrate the divine culture
The show started with the large-scale dance, “Creation.”
The scene showed the splendor of heaven and the Tang Dynasty in
prosperity. The compassionate Master Buddha led gods and goddesses to
the mortal world, and all the sentient beings in the heaven hope that
they will return successfully. The Master Buddha and other gods
created the most beautiful culture in Chinese history–the Tang
Dynasty culture.
Ms. Li Vina, the director of this dance, said: “The Chinese culture is given
by the gods and the Tang Dynasty culture is the most typical divine culture
in Chinese history. We try to show the audience the root of the Chinese culture
through this dance. We tell the audience where we are from and where we are
going. The answer is in the dance.”
The dance, “A Dunhuang Dream” shows how an ancient stone
sculptor made a vow to carve one thousand Buddhas to show his
respect. Due to his pure faith and respect for Buddhas, the Buddhas
gave him many ideas, and this was how the Cave of a
Thousand Buddhas was created in Dunhuang.
Ms. Chen Ying, the Stage Director of the Spectacular, said: “As
the technology is getting more and more developed, the surface level
of the art performance is also getting fancier and fancier, but few
people can create the great masterpieces like the ones in the period
of the Renaissance. This is because people have lost faith in
gods, and no longer understand the true meaning of life.
'Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance' is the essence of the
Chinese culture, and it can help people find the way back to real
art.”
The Tian Yin Orchestra, which played for the Spectacular, consists
of Falun Gong practitioners. Their performances perfectly manifested
the profound content of the music. The conductor of the orchestra,
Mr. Chen Rutang, talked to this reporter about his experience of understanding the
Chinese culture. He said that although he learned a little Chinese
traditional culture when he was little, he was brainwashed by the
Chinese Communist Party's atheism. He had only a little
understanding of the traditional culture, and knew nothing about the
Chinese divine culture.
Mr. Chen learned that the Chinese culture was imprated by the gods
after he started practicing Falun Gong. He gradually realized why the
Chinese culture is so profound. He studied the divine culture and
tried to manifest it through the Spectacular. Mr. Chen said: “During
this process, I realized that our performances would help people to
return to traditional culture and values, which is very valuable
for the world.”
Mr. Chen pointed out: “We are not trying to return to ancient
society. We are spreading the Chinese traditional culture and trying
to create a new form of art. The ideas and wisdom stem from the
cultivation of Falun Gong.”
TPure, compassionate and beautiful art
Many in the audience gave very high marks to the shows. Some of
them even cried during the shows. Mr. Chen Rutang said that he had
conducted and performed on many occasions for several decades, but he
had never seen an audiences moved to tears. Mr. Chen said:
“The pure compassion and the cultivators' benevolence which were
manifested by the performance were very touching, so I had to control
my emotions when I was conducting today.”
Ms. Li Vina said: “Much modern art like to express dark and grey feeling, but
what we try to bring to everybody is brightness. So our background, costumes
and lights are all bright.”
Ms. Li said: “Modern art tries to express human feelings,
but human feelings and emotions are getting more and more complex.
In cultivation, we realize that the simpler it is, the easier we can
communicate with the audience, because our true nature is simple and
only the true nature can touch the audiences' hearts.”
Audience loves the show
Claire Newton loves the song–“The Holy Master of Falun” by
Guan Guimin, which called to sentient beings not to miss the
salvation they have been waiting for. She said that although she
doesn't speak Chinese, she understood the content of the song
through the caption. Claire said that through the song, she felt that
“every one belongs to a higher power” and the song gave boundless
love to everyone.
Dr. Huang Jinli, the chief of the SAT Center in the Department of
Education in New York, and his wife, Ms. Chen Sulan, the principal of
a Chinese School, watched the show. Dr. Huang said that the show is a
good opportunity to spread the Chinese culture. Many stories are very
touching and make people think. They are very educational, which are
different. Dr. Huang said that what NTDTV
tries to manifest is real Chinese culture. Dr. Huang was glad that
Westerners had such a chance to have a deeper understanding of
Chinese culture, and they would be more respectful to Chinese
people. Dr. Huang was very glad that more and more Westerners value
the Chinese culture.
Uloan McMillan said that the whole show was very touching, and he
was totally involved it. He said that he liked the educational stories and
also the singing. He thought that Guan Guimin was very good.
Ms. Jiang, who works at a hospital, was born in Hong Kong and grew
up in South America. She has lived in America for 20 years. Today, it was
her first time to see a Chinese show. She said that the show really
demonstrated the Chinese culture, and amazed her friends and made all
the Chinese proud of their own culture.
Nicole Gill is a fifth grade teacher at 155 Public School in New
York. She brought her students to the show. She said that the show
was beautiful and her students learned about the Chinese culture and Falun
Gong through the show. Her students, who saw the NTDTV's Christmas
Gala on Broadway, were all amazed by the Chinese culture.
Ms. Han Mei has been in America for 18 years. She said that the
show was very righteous. She said: “I heard that the CCP tried to
interfere with the show. I hope that NTDTV will persist. All my family
members support NTDTV. I am very happy that we have a chance to
spread our traditional culture.”
Condemn the CCP's evil behavior
Ora Koch is a graphic designer. She said that NTDTV should
bring their performances to more schools and colleges so that more
students would have chances to learn the Chinese culture, and also
learn about the persecution of Falun Gong. Ms. Koch said that when
people are buying cheap stuff from China, they should think about
whether it is made by slaves. She said that students should
discuss what freedom and faith are.
Paul Wollman is an artist. He likes the Chinese culture very much
and is learning Chinese calligraphy. He said that he was excited when
he saw the traditional performance on Tiananmen Square. He understood
the song “Tiananmen, Please Tell Me” by Yang Jiansheng. He
said that the song expresses the pursuit of freedom. He condemned the
CCP's behavior and thinks that people should have the freedom of
belief no matter where they are.
The NTDTV Global Chinese New Year Spectacular will have two more
shows at Radio City on February 17.
Posting date: 18/Feb/2007
Original article date: 17/Feb/2007
Category: World News